List,

I apologize in advance for my long posting

Several weeks ago I posted what were my attempts to save data and my school-of hard-knocks learning curve.  Unfortunately several posters just had to nit-pick the process I had used and started a long series of posts and counter-posts about the process while totally missing the message.  So I’m going to walk through this again hopefully for the edification of the majority.

Just several days ago a 10 year old Canadian girl discovered a super-nova while studying photographic images.  Observations by the world’s two most powerful earth based telescopes confirmed here discovery.

Now consider the case of the Antikythera mechanism.  It was close to 2,000 years ahead of what was eventually developed in Europe.  Most likely we never knew about it was that the library in Alexandria Egypt was joyfully burned three times by religious idiots [see Wikipedia].

This mechanism was so complicated and accurate that as least passing knowledge, if not some or all of its drawings, would have been there.  In context to the science of that time, it ranked up with what the Hubble telescope accomplished for science today.

Which brings us here to today.

Governments and private businesses are storing millions of tons of written documents in the evacuated chambers of salt mines of the world [see Wikipedia].  This does beg the question of where the inventory lists are stored.  The reason for this is that no other archival grade of mass storage really exists.  The last method that I’m aware of is black & white polyester microfilm which is rated at 500 years.  With the almost total transition to digital cameras, there is no financial incentive to produce the necessary film stock to continue that process.

NASA has lost large amounts of acquired data as no equipment now exists to read the information.

Current CD/ DVD media is no solution.  A 2004 report published in the Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology entitled "Stability Comparison of Recordable Optical Discs-A Study of Error Rates in Harsh Conditions."  You can read it yourself at http://nvl-p.nist.gov/pub/nistpubs/jres/109/5/j95sla.pdf.

Until someone invents a stabilized glass DVD and perhaps a holographic laser beam to create the needed pits W/O chemicals (embedded gold maybe?) archival data storage W/O paper is a crap-shoot.

So where am I going with all this?  Glad you asked.

No one knows if their or others data will lead to a new discovery or process.  Da Vinci certainly didn’t.  It can however; lead to learning that can then can be taken to the next level of knowledge and invention.

Words cannot express my gratefulness to those who have taken the considerable effort and expense to post science information and support technical lists such as this on the net as well as the posters who have kindly shared their knowledge with us.

I just hope it doesn’t get lost.

End of Rant.  I now get off my soapbox and return you to your normal programming.

Regards,

Perrier

Hi Perry:

It's a real problem.  Modern movies are edited and in some cases sent to
theaters as digital data.  Last I heard the specified lifetime of data
on a hard disk is 10 years (although probably much longer).  It's very
expensive to transfer data every ten years to a new drive.  Modern movie
prints are archival, but some earlier color movies are not.  I've heard
that a small number of CD - DVD brands/models are archival quality.

Have Fun,

Brooke Clarke
http://www.PRC68.com

Seems to me there's at least three things going on.

1. People need meaningful work. It is more satisfying to re-invent
   from ignorance than to learn that something has been done several
   times before. Either way, the effect on the orbits of stars is
   not measurable. It only matters to a human.

2. Yes, we can no longer build a Saturn 5 rocket, but why would we
   want to? Technology moved on, and we still ride the crest of the
   wave, even as some seek the bleeding edge. Does anyone seriously
   believe that hidden or destroyed in Tesla's papers is the secret
   for a death ray? Anyone that understands the laws of physics, that
   is.

3. Most human brains are genetically programmed to detect loss of a
   mate, or children, or helpful friends. If not, we wouldn't notice,
   and lose chances for survival. This sense of loss gets connected
   to other brain areas to a variable extent.

I hate to lose useful or clever artifacts, and so my basement has
spilled over into a storage locker. Now I'm at an age where I can't
keep them because they'll be hauled to the dump when I die. Others
do not share my love for those things. Who would pay the shipping
for a fine old Tektronix 500 series scope?

Anybody that's tried to invent categories for things knows that it
isn't perfect. What I'd file under one name, someone else would
file under another if there were any ambiguity at all.

Google shows that data might as well be buried in some salt cave
unless you can come up with the key words that will find it.

Thanks for caring, Perrier, but humans aren't capable of storing
everything so it can be retrieved. Especially not when languages
are different.

George Shultz (Peanuts) did a cartoon of Snoopy saying, "Sometimes
I've just got to bite a cat." Next panel, "But then I just lie down
and forget about it." Last panel, "That's real maturity."

Not saying any one is immature, just that feelings pass as life
goes on.

Bill Hawkins

-----Original Message-----
From: Perry Sandeen
Sent: Friday, January 07, 2011 2:59 PM

I apologize in advance for my long posting

-------- apology accepted ---------

So where am I going with all this?  Glad you asked.

No one knows if their or others data will lead to a new discovery or
process.  Da Vinci certainly didn't.  It can however; lead to learning that
can then can be taken to the next level of knowledge and invention.

Words cannot express my gratefulness to those who have taken the
considerable effort and expense to post science information and support
technical lists such as this on the net as well as the posters who have
kindly shared their knowledge with us.

I just hope it doesn't get lost.

End of Rant.  I now get off my soapbox and return you to your normal
programming.

Regards,

Perrier

I'm designing a simulator for LORAN-A...  YES, LORAN-A. It needs about 24
different GRIs from roughly 50,000 uS to 30,000 uS. Rounded to integers,
the GRIs come out to something like 49,407 uS.

Does anybody have any simple ideas for generating such a signal. For
simplicity, I'd like to use a standard crystal and no aardvaark parts.

Thanks,

-John

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